Kyris frowned.
If that was all she ate, he was going to have to remember to keep food with him at all times. There was no way she would survive the trek to the outpost on so little food.
“Are you sure? You badly hit your head. You may need to eat and rest more than you think.”
She smiled at that, first meeting his gaze before her focus drifted to the side. But she didn’t answer.
Shifting uncomfortably, she stared into the light of the fire sticks.
“Can I ask you something?” Her voice was low, the words coming out in an almost whisper but her tone made his edge feathers stand on end.
“Of course.”
“Why are you being so nice to me? From the start. Why have you been so nice to me?”
The question was one he hadn’t expected and it took his mind off the problem in his trousers for a second. It was a question he didn’t know how to answer.
“You were being hurt.”
She glanced at him then. “Yes, but...why did you care?”
He took a moment to contemplate this. What should he say? He’d helped her because he’d seen the terror in her eyes? Because he hated the Tasqals and those who worked for them?
Or should he tell her the truth? That he’d never wanted for anything in his life before, that he’d had everything he’d needed.., until he saw her?
He sat contemplating this, the revelation something he hadn’t put into words previously. But his human was here asking him for an answer and he needed to give her one.
“At first...it was out of duty. The Tasqals...they are a scourge. I could not sit by while they tortured you.”
“At first?”
Kyris closed his eyes momentarily. He’d hoped she hadn’t caught that but this little human was smarter than he was giving her credit for. He swallowed hard.
“Yes...at first.” He watched her closely, wanting her to ask more but terrified at the same time that she would. What would she think if he told her the truth? That he intended to have her, that he intended to keep them in this desert for as long as possible so she would start to see him as a likely mate, that his aim was to have her choose him.
It was an...obsessive and selfish mission.
There were no other males to compete with him for her affection. She had no pool of potential mates to choose from. There would be no ritual.
Her soft voice cut into his thoughts like a gentle reminder that she was innocent...so pure in all of his deviant thoughts.
“And now? Why are you being nice now? Duty?”
“No.”
She raised her eyes to his then and even though he knew his raw emotions were displayed there, he couldn’t hide them.
It wasn’t out of duty. It was out of selfishness.
He wasn’t going to deny it anymore. His cock certainly wasn’t.
It knew what it wanted. And it wanted her.
He wanted her.
Sooner or later she would realize this and it worried him how she would react.
It was unheard of for a male Vaen to choose a female for himself, unheard of for one to impose themselves upon a female.
If he had tried such a stunt while back on Vaenus, he would have brought shame to his entire family.
She thought he was nice...but was he really?
“It’s getting late.” Her voice brought her from his deliberation as she placed a hand against her forehead and winced.
Rest. She needed rest.
“I have made a bed for you. It should be comfortable...and warm.” He motioned to the zehmip skins and watched as her eyebrows rose a little.
“Oh...th-thank you.” There was a pink tinge against her cheeks. Crawling over to the woolly skins, she patted them before resting on the pile. “It is comfortable. Thank you.” She smiled at him again and rested her head on her arm.
“I’ll try to rest.” Even as she spoke, her eyes were already fluttering closed. “I’ll rest so I won’t be a burden on our journey tomorrow. I know you have a mission to complete.”
Kyris grunted a response.
Mission? Deviant or not, his only mission right now was to gain her affection.
The guilt of his decision weighed on him as he watched her eyes close.
Song’s eyes jerked open, anxiety and terror flooding through her veins. They were holding her arms back and forcing her eyes open. In front of her, images of a brunette being...being...she was being used...used by the big toad-like alien, a Tasqal. Her cries were echoing from the other side of the screen.
Bolting upright, she could feel the sweat covering her brow.
The woman’s cries were still in her head, clear as day.
But...she wasn’t on the slave ship anymore.
She was in a cave.
She was warm.
She was comfortable.
There were no gator-guards. No toad-like Tasqals.
It was over.
That part was over.
The glow from the fire sticks still lit up the cave and her eyes slowly adjusted to the light. But her breaths were still coming hard, and she willed her heart to calm.
Turning her head to the side, Kyris’ huge form came into view.
He was lying on his side, his back toward the cave wall and his face toward her.
The sight of him almost took her breath away.
Even with his eyes closed, he still looked…ridiculously attractive.
If he wasn’t a male model on his home planet, he should have been. His rich, golden hair fell in place automatically, as if the strands obeyed his every word and not one dared to disobey.
Lying on his side as he was, the muscles in his arms and chest were bunched up, pressing outward against his skin.
If she had seen him while on campus, she’d have been drooling over him while giggling with her dorm mate in embarrassment.
If a guy like him had approached her, she honestly didn’t know what she would have done.
She didn’t have much experience with men. Heck, she didn’t have any experience with men. With an overprotective father and older brother, dating hadn’t played a big role in her life.
They’d made sure to keep the wrong type of guys
